1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to systems and methods for controlling automated irrigation systems and, more particularly, to systems and methods for retrofitting existing irrigation systems for wireless communication and providing low power wireless communication devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
A typical irrigation system comprises an irrigation controller, which include some timing and scheduling functionality, which is hardwired to one or more irrigation valves that are configured to control flow of fluid through the valves based on signals received from the irrigation controller. In these irrigation systems, in order to be able to control a newly installed irrigation valve, wires must physically be run from the irrigation controller to the new irrigation valve. As those of skill in the art will recognize, the connecting wires are typically buried in an underground trench and may be encased in additional protective material, such as PVC piping, for example. Thus, depending on the land features between the irrigation controller and the irrigation valves, placement of the wires may require considerable labor and expense.
One alternative to the use of an irrigation system having physical wires between the irrigation controller and the valves is the replacement of the wired irrigation system with a smart irrigation system, including a smart irrigation controller having built-in wireless communication capabilities. However, after replacing a wired irrigation controller with a smart irrigation controller, the irrigation valves must also be replaced with smart irrigation valves having built-in wireless communication capabilities in order to communicate with the replaced smart irrigation controller. In some cases, each of the smart irrigation valves comprise a timing module configured to determine and monitor the irrigation duration of the smart irrigation valve. Thus, a schedule may be wirelessly sent to the smart irrigation valve and the timing module may activate the smart irrigation valve according to the received schedule. As those of skill in the art will recognize, however, implementation of a timing module in smart irrigation valves requires some computing capabilities in the smart irrigation valve and, thus, the irrigation valve may require more power than a typical wired irrigation valve. In addition, in order to implement one of these smart irrigation systems into an existing system, the irrigation controller must be replaced with a smart irrigation controller having built-in wireless capabilities and, in order to communicate with the smart irrigation controller, the irrigation valves need to be replaced with smart irrigation valves having built-in wireless capabilities. Accordingly, currently available systems for implementing a wireless irrigation system require complete replacement of existing components and, thus, require significant expense. Systems and methods for allowing existing irrigation systems to be upgraded to communicate wirelessly are desired. More particularly, systems and methods for retrofitting existing irrigation controllers and irrigation valves so that wireless communications may be transmitted between the devices are desired.